Leadership Team

Committed to providing excellent patient dental care and delivering the latest clinical advancements. Get to know the Western Dental leadership team.

Simon Castellanos

Chief Executive Officer

Simon Castellanos joined Western Dental and Brident Dental & Orthodontics in January 2014 as the Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Castellanos has dedicated nearly two decades of his professional career to the health and well-being of the patients his companies have served. Prior to joining Western Dental, he successfully led as the President of Fresenius Medical Services (FMS), the largest US division of Fresenius responsible for dialysis treatment to over 160,000 patients at 2,060 outpatient facilities and 900 hospitals across the country. Under his leadership at FMS, overall quality outcomes including hospitalization and mortality rates improved substantially due to standardization of processes and protocols, and globally Fresenius was named a Most Innovative Company by Forbes for three consecutive years. Before that, Mr. Castellanos directed improvement in outcomes and overall results through several leadership roles at Fresenius, and at Gambro Healthcare International.

Mr. Castellanos is known for his passion for best-in-class quality in clinical outcomes and patient care, and his strong belief that employees’ steadfast commitment together with proven protocols will best enable successful results.

Ronald E. Inge

Chief Dental Officer

Ronald E. Inge, D.D.S., a nationally respected dental professional, joined Western Dental in August 2014 as the Chief Dental Officer. Dr. Inge is responsible for guiding and enhancing Western Dental’s clinical quality programs as well as development in its more than 180 affiliated clinics throughout California, Arizona and Nevada, including supporting its affiliated dental group Brident Dental & Orthodontics in Texas. He has over 33 years of dental experience, and 18 years of innovative leadership within the dental industry.

Prior to joining Western Dental, Dr. Inge was the Dental Director and Vice President of Professional Services at Delta Dental of Washington. Before Delta Dental, Dr. Inge held numerous leadership positions for the American Dental Association (ADA), Aetna Dental, PMI Dental Health Plan/Delta Dental of California, and DentiCare of California. While in these roles he provided strategic leadership in policy development and implementation. In addition, he was instrumental in conveying the importance of medical/dental integration, as well as initiating studies of integrated care models between medical and oral health. Dr. Inge also has 14 years of private clinical experience.

Dr. Inge holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology from Stanford University and a Doctor of Dental Surgery from the University of California Los Angeles. He has earned executive leadership accreditations from Seattle University, Stanford University and Harvard University. Dr. Inge is a member of the American Dental Association, California Dental Association, the Santa Fe Group, and the Dr. Edwards B. Shils Entrepreneurial Fund.

Joshua Marder

Chief Marketing Officer

Mr. Marder serves as Chief Marketing Officer and is responsible for advertising, defining and enabling an exceptional patient experience, and for local outreach to the communities Western Dental serves.

Mr. Marder is a seasoned consumer marketing executive with particular experience in building brands for personal and family health decisions. Prior to joining Western Dental in September 2013, he was Director of Marketing for the Nature Made Vitamins & Supplements brand at Pharmavite, LLC, through a period of rapid growth and innovation. Prior to that experience he led strategy and brand development on well-known brands at several of the world’s largest consumer companies including Unilever and Procter & Gamble.

Michael Warter

Chief Information Officer

Michael (“Mike”) L. Warter serves as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Western Dental. Mike has over 20 years of experience in custom and package software development for large technology teams both on, near and off-shore. He has strong leadership capabilities coupled with a proven track record to meet business results by delivering complex software projects on time and on budget. Mike has proven an ability to build and restructure teams to optimize performance. He has high energy combined with a structured methodology and custom programming and engineering background.

Mike is a graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in Computer Science. After college, he joined Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), grew to Partner and was part of the Global Technology Team were he lead teams at Amoco/BP, Sprint PCS and FileNet. Prior to joining the Western Dental team, Mike was Vice President of IT at Davita.

Andy Ortiz

Chief Human Resources Officer

Mr. Ortiz, an inspiring and innovative Human Resources (HR) professional with over 20 years of experience, joined Western Dental in July 2014 as the Chief Human Resources Officer. Mr. Ortiz is responsible for the strategy and administration of all aspects of human resources, including workforce planning, recruitment, compensation and benefits, performance management, employee relations and engagement, change management, and employee and leadership development.

Prior to Western Dental, Mr. Ortiz was Senior Vice President, Organization Effectiveness for Warner Bros. Entertainment Group. While at Warner Bros., he was responsible for supporting the company’s people and business strategies through recruitment, employee learning and development, leadership development, succession management, diversity initiatives, employee communications, employee relations and change management. Before joining Warner Bros., Mr. Ortiz worked for HealthNet, Inc. as their Vice President of Talent Management, Diversity and Leadership Development. Prior to HealthNet, Ortiz held numerous leadership roles in a variety of industries including financial services, cable and automotive.

Ortiz holds a Master of Arts degree in Organizational Leadership and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech Communication. He is a certified executive coach from the Hudson Institute of Coaching and a member of the International Coaching Federation. He is also involved with a number of nonprofit organizations, including The Point Foundation, where he serves on the Board of Directors and The Hispanic Scholarship Fund where he serves on the Southern California Advisory Board.

Louis J. Amendola

Senior Vice President of Clinical Affairs

Louis J. Amendola, D.D.S. is a multi-skilled dental professional with more than 30 years of experience in the dental field. As the Senior Vice President of Clinical Affairs, Dr. Amendola leads the development of standards of clinical practice and research projects for improvements in oral health. His primary focus is to further the strategic projects, enabling Western Dental to move oral health care forward, while bringing cutting-edge knowledge and training to Western Dental’s clinical staff and offices. He also works closely with universities in a series of innovative research projects, which will lead to the development of new standards of care for oral health and the advancement of evidence-based dentistry. Dr. Amendola received his Bachelor of Science degree (B.S.) from the University of California, Irvine, and his doctor of dental surgery degree (D.D.S.) from the University of Southern California (the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry).

Jeffrey Miller

Senior Vice President & General Counsel

Mr. Miller is the Company's Senior Vice President and General Counsel and oversees all legal matters, including corporate governance, acquisitions, regulatory compliance, litigation, and government affairs. Mr. Miller has dedicated the majority of his professional career supporting health care organizations to deliver the highest quality patient care, including hospitals, dialysis facilities and radiology practices.

Prior to joining Western Dental, Mr. Miller was the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for Imaging Advantage, a radiology practice management company. Previously, Mr. Miller spent several years overseeing the legal affairs for DaVita, a leading provider of kidney care with over 2,000 dialysis centers across the United States. He was formerly with Latham & Watkins, where he represented large health insurance companies, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Miller worked at RAND Health where he advised state governments in connection with health care financing initiatives aimed at increasing access to care. Mr. Miller received his J.D. from Georgetown University, a Masters of Public Health from Johns Hopkins and a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University.

Andrew Eddy

Vice President Real Estate & New Office Development

Mr. Eddy is the Company's Vice President of Real Estate and New Office Development. As the real estate lead, Mr. Eddy is responsible for the company’s office growth objectives, facility management operations, lease administration and construction functions in support of all dental facilities and other critical corporate departments.

Prior to joining Western Dental, Mr. Eddy had over 20 years’ experience in the commercial real estate field as an internal executive and consultant supporting a number of national brands. He was director of Retail Real Estate for AT&T Wireless/Cingular during a period of seven fold store growth. Mr. Eddy holds a Certified Facility Manager designation through the International Facility Management Association with a Business Degree in Real Estate Finance from the University of Southern California.

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